When a guest visit a host at corporate offices, typically, the guest tells a receptionist the purpose of the visit and the name of the host, and the receptionist has the guest wait in a designated waiting area while the host is summoned. The host then comes to the waiting area, informs the receptionist of his arrival, and conducts the guest to a prescribed conference room or drawing room. If the conference room was designated in advance, it is inefficient for the host to come to the waiting area. However, if the receptionist is assigned with the duty to conduct the guest to the designated conference room, the receptionist would be overburdened. If another person is assigned with the duty to conduct guests to conference rooms, not only the labor cost rises but also it creates additional work of sharing information because this person needs to inquire the receptionist and guest of information on the purpose of the visit and the designated conference room.
When the receptionist intends to summon the host, the receptionist looks up a directory or database to find the telephone extension number under the name or post of the host, and communicates with the host. The receptionist is required to repeat this process for each guest, and the work efficiency may be highly poor depending on the skill or method of the receptionist. The guest may identify the host by saying “Mr. AA at extension number XXXX” or “Mr. BB in YYYY division”. In such a case, the extension number or his post may be outdated, and this may hamper prompt summoning of the host.
It has been proposed to automate the work of receiving and conducting a guest without depending on human efforts. See Japanese Patent Laid-Open (Kokai) Publications Nos. 2-240684 (line 8, lower left column, page 2-line 15, lower right column, page 2, and FIG. 4) and 7-295637 (paragraph [0012], and FIG. 3), for instance). However, according to the proposal disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open (Kokai) Publication 2-240684, use is made of a robot which conducts a guest by using speech and image, and travels along a magnetic induction wire. Therefore, if any obstacle is placed on the magnetic induction line, the robot is unable to return to the initial position. According to the proposal disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open (Kokai) Publication 7-295637, a guide robot can be connected to an external control unit, but is unable to conduct the guest because the robot is not capable of a guided motion.
According to the conventional robots, only the function of either a receptionist or a conductor is available, and the robot is assigned to perform a duty in a way a human would usually perform. Therefore, the robot is unable to perform the comprehensive actions of receiving and conducting a guest, and a desired level of efficiency in receiving and conducting a guest cannot be attained.